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But the hospital has denied this is the case and says even during busy periods 80 per cent of scan reports are sent to GPs within five days.

Cheltenham General Hospital on Sandford Road, Cheltenham

Christine Wright, 81 from Up Hatherley, was waiting for almost a month for results of her CT scan before her husband Bob visited Cheltenham General Hospital on Monday to demand that her scan was signed off and given to her doctor.

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Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust says it does not breach the six-week target for completion of a diagnostic test, and is currently issuing around 1,000 reports a week on CT and MRI scans as well as a further 3,000-4,000 x-ray reports.

A trust spokesman said: "Following the retirement of two key staff members, we know that a small number of patients have had to wait longer than we would have liked for their results and for this we apologise. Despite a national shortage of radiologists, we are fortunate to have attracted two new, experienced radiologists and are confident this issue will be resolved shortly.

“During busy periods we always work closely with our clinicians to ensure that patients do not come to any harm if we are unable to report as quickly as we’d like and to make sure that the most urgent examinations for the sickest patients are reported immediately – for example, patients with cancer, or suspected cancer, patients from our A&E department and very sick patients who are in hospital already."

Anyone who is concerned about a delay in receiving their scan results are encouraged to contact their GP or consultant’s secretary for advice, or the hospital's patient liaison (PALS) team on ghn-tr.pals.gloshospitals@nhs.net